Modern communication systems use digital transmission since it provides improved efficiency and the ability to detect and correct transmission errors. There are several digital transmission formats such as binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quaternary phase shift keying (QPSK), offset quaternary phase shift keying (OQPSK), m-ary phase shift keying (m-PSK), orthogonal frequency division modulation (OFDM), and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). There are different communication systems such as code division multiple access (CDMA) communication systems, or high definition television (HDTV) systems.
In digital transmission, the digitized data is used to modulate a carrier sinusoid using one of the above-listed formats. The modulated waveform is further processed (e.g. filtered, amplified, and up-converted) and transmitted to a remote station. At the remote station, the transmitted RF signal is received and demodulated by a receiver. A typical receiver includes an antenna that receives the signals and a filter that limits the received signals to the desirable carrier frequency range. The frequency band limited signal received by the antenna is then applied to a low noise amplifier where it is amplified to an amplitude suitable for subsequent processing, as described below.
Wireless telecommunications systems such as cellular telephone communications systems use several base stations that receive and transmit signals over a particular carrier frequency or channel within an allocated frequency band to communicate with a terminal handset. The terminal handset typically tunes to receive one narrow band channel within the wider frequency band at a time while base stations are typically required to tune in multiple channels and communicate with multiple terminals at a time.
In general, communications systems can use several types of RF receivers. A homodyne receiver is perhaps the most basic of RF receivers. The homodyne receiver usually includes a low noise amplifier (LNA) that accepts an RF signal received by an antenna, and amplifies the detected signal. The amplifier provides the amplified signal to an RF filter and to an analog mixer that multiplies the filtered RF signal with an analog mixing signal provided by a frequency generator including a local oscillator (LO). The analog mixer down-converts and recovers the desired baseband signal. (The analog mixing signal may have its frequency tuned for channel selection by a synthesizer.) This homodyne technique is sometimes called a “zero IF” architecture since the RF modulated signal is down-converted directly to zero frequency without an intermediate frequency (IF). In “zero IF” architectures, the LO signal is at the same frequency as the RF receiver signal. The use of the substantially same RF frequency signal (LO) for mixing can have the undesirable effect of the LO signal being radiated out through the antenna. In addition, coupling within the mixer can create a design issue in that the LO appears on the output of the mixer as a large DC offset, potentially jamming the desired signal.
A super-heterodyne receiver is another type of an RF receiver. A super-heterodyne receiver has several advantages over the zero-IF architecture. A super-heterodyne receiver also includes a low noise amplifier and a filter for filtering the modulated amplified RF signal. The receiver uses an analog RF mixer that receives the modulated RF signal for down-converting. The receiver uses a first frequency generator for providing a first mixing signal (LO1) that is offset from the RF carrier by an intermediate frequency (IF). The analog mixer receives the two offset RF signals and provides the modulated output at the IF frequency to a filter (e.g., a surface acoustic wave filter) having a high Q and a narrow band.
In super-heterodyning, the difference between the frequency of the modulated signal and the LO1 signal provides advantageous ability to isolate and filter non-idealities from the desired signal. The high Q and narrow band filter provides the filtered IF signal to a second mixer (usually an analog mixer) operating at the IF frequency. The second mixer also receives a second mixing signal (LO2) provided by a second frequency generator. (The second mixer may be replaced by a modulator that also digitizes the analog signal.) The mixer down-converts the IF frequency signal to a baseband signal suitable for processing. Usually, this architecture provides the signal of interest at the frequency RF+/−IF, and an image signal at RF−/+IF. Therefore, the receiver performs image rejection using a surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter. Alternatively, the receiver may use Weaver mixer architecture to remove the unwanted image. The Weaver mixer architecture separates the modulated signal into an in-phase (I) signal and a quadrature (Q) signal to perform the mixing separately for the I & Q signals. This is done in two stages further separating each signal into two 90° shifted signals for mixing down to a baseband frequency. The baseband signals are combined by first appropriately shifting the phase.
There is still a need for communications systems and other systems that use hybrid heterodyne transmitters or receivers.